Q. I am about to receive monthly Social Security Disability Insurance benefits. Since March of this year, I have received a small ($518) retirement check from the California State Teachers’ Retirement System. We didn’t pay into Social Security. Will my teachers’ retirement affect my Social Security disability benefits?

A. Your Social Security benefit may be subject to the Social Security Act’s Windfall Elimination Provision. This provision requires the use a reduced calculation method for determining Social Security when a wage earner has also earned a pension from non-Social Security covered employment unless he or she has at least thirty years of substantial Social Security earnings. The reduction in your Social Security cannot exceed half of your public pension.